Community work with children - Kenya

Product Details

Located on the shores of Lake Victoria, the largest body of water in Africa, Kisumu is an attractive town with a leisurely pace of life. Here you can spend your free time browsing the markets for African carvings, visiting the wildlife parks and sanctuaries or taking boat rides on the lake. In this town, which has been badly hit by HIV/AIDS, you will be working with orphaned and disadvantaged children, helping to build them a brighter future.

Project details:
In Kisumu i-to-i work with a number of projects, encompassing children's homes, centres and orphanages, which have been founded with the aim of giving care and support to needy children and providing them with an education. Many of the children who attend the centres or live at the homes come from the slums, where a high number of children have been left with no parents due to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The centres give structure and guidance, important factors in preventing these young people from falling into petty crime and worse.The projects also aim to encourage sustainable income generation, through the teaching of vocational skills, to educate families in the slums on issues such as abandonment of children, and in some cases, to support people living with HIV/AIDS.

Why the project needs volunteers:
Projects are under-staffed and under-resourced, making it difficult to cope with the sheer number of children in need of help. Volunteers are desperately needed to support the staff running the centres and to provide some basic skills and companionship to the children. As English is a national language in Kenya, English language skills are a permanent necessity and by helping in this area you can bring an invaluable skill to the children you work with.

Your role as a volunteer:
The work you will undertake as a volunteer will partly be determined by the project you are working with and your own interests. You could find yourself teaching basic English and maths, playing sports with the children or teaching arts and crafts. At the orphanages you could help with preparing meals, feeding and cleaning the children along with general cleaning around the centre. At one orphanage there is also the opportunity to work looking after babies aged 2 months to 3 years.?Wherever you work your help will be needed in encouraging the children and giving them the support, care and attention they deserve.

In addition to working with the children there may be the opportunity to go out into the slums to help educate families there, particularly on issues surrounding child abandonment. One of the projects also has an HIV/AIDS outreach program which you may have the opportunity to get involved in, giving care and support to those living in the slums with HIV/AIDS.

Where the project is based:
The projects are based in the city of Kisumu, 20km away from Kisumu airport. You will be staying in a volunteer house situated 20 minutes walk / 5 minutes drive from the shops in the city.

Please book your flight to arrive into Kisumu (airport code KIS) on the advertised arrival date to ensure your airport pickup.